On the topic of allowing college students with concealed carry permits to carry their weapons on the campus at UNH, she says...

As college students we are statistically more likely to binge drink and suffer from depression or other mental illnesses than many other age demographics. I see bar fights turning into fatal shootouts, and a distressed student making a rash and irreversible decision to end their life - this is not a crowd of people I want to see armed.

Sorry, Helen, but we're talking about people who are already armed. We're talking about people who have already been determined to be the most law-abiding of citizens, deemed responsible, in the eyes of the law, to carry defensive weapons they likely already own.

We're not talking about handing out guns to everyone when they show up for freshman orientation. Your prophecy of "Blood in the lecture halls!" is nothing more than the latest installment in the endless string of fantasy-based "Wild West" scenarios, which have been regurgitated to no end by every gun-grabber in the history of gun-grabbing.

Keep planting those seeds. Let me know when you get fruit.

As to your claim that affording people the right to defend themselves will lead to shootouts in bars, I'll say this. You do have a point, though I suspect it's not quite the point you were trying to make.

MANCHESTER – Bullets flew outside the Uptown Tavern early yesterday when a peeved patron began shooting at a doorman after being thrown out of the club. The shooter himself was shot twice by an armed customer who rushed to the bouncer's defense, a club owner and police said.

February 2006: Puzzles Lounge - New Bedford, MA (gun-free zone)

Police continued their hunt late today for an armed suspect who shot two people and slashed another inside a popular gay nightclub.

The incident occurred about midnight inside the Puzzles Lounge on North Front Street. A bartender, who asked that his name not be used because he feared for his life, said a man armed with a hatchet, a machete, and a handgun attacked patrons before he fled the bar.

But, I digress.

Ms. Hocknell's editorial, as entertaining as it is in its failure to recognize reality, pales in comparison to some of the readers comments submitted thereto.

If I need someone to save me from a homicidal maniac then I'll take my chances with the police and thank my lucky stars that some would-be hero can't carry on campus.

Um...no.

You'd be taking your chances with the homicidal maniac, relying on his mercy for your very existence. The police will be the ones drawing the chalk outline around your corpse long after the bullets have stopped flying.

And, from the resident weapons "expert":

Having a 9 mm handgun for self protection is one thing, but should larger caliber semi-automatic or automatic weapons (like those that were used at Columbine and Virginia Tech), pump action shotguns (Columbine and Northern Illinois), or fully automatic assault rifles (the North Hollywood shootout) be available to everybody? I don't think so.

As good as that one is, however, I'm giving the gold star to Becca.

People kill, with guns.Guns kill.Guns are inherently violent.More guns will not decrease violence.Less guns will.inherently.

A veritable René Descartes, that one is.

Commenter Jeff sums it up nicely.

Behold the failure to learn critical thinking skills

"Thinking is for the scary real world. We like to feeeeeeeel our way through life."

What it is...

Opinion and commentary, garnished with a sprig of cynicism, served with a heaping side order of sarcasm, and washed down with a tall glass of common sense, by a gun-toting political refugee from the People's Progressive Republic of Massachusetts, currently residing in New Hampshire and doing what he can to keep the Granite State beautiful and free.